List Of Daytona 500 Pole Position Winners
Daytona 500 pole position winners for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 500 are rewarded with being the driver to lead the field across the start line at the beginning of the 500-mile (800 km) race. Pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 is held one weekend before the race at the Daytona International Speedway. The driver to complete the fastest single lap in a two-lap qualifying effort around the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) high-banked tri-oval superspeedway earns the pole position. The first Daytona 500 was held in 1959, and in 1982 it became the opening event for the NASCAR season. The term "pole position" was originally coined in the American horse racing industry, and indicated the position of the starter being next to the "poles", which established the boundaries of the course. The two drivers who complete a lap with the fastest time are awarded the first and second starting positions for the Daytona 500. An additional 33 to 35 entrants are determined by a combination of the results of two qualifying races and the position of the team in the previous season's point rankings. The remainder of the 43 car field consists of drivers who meet certain qualifications, such as qualifying speed or being one of the previous NASCAR champions.
Bill Elliott set the pole position qualifying record on February 9, 1987 when he navigated around the circuit with a 42.782 second lap, which is an average speed of 210.364 miles per hour (338.548 km/h). Since 1988, NASCAR has required teams to install a restrictor plate between the carburetor and the engine. This rule was enacted as an effort to slow the cars speed in response to an accident in which fans suffered minor injuries when Bobby Allison's car blew a tire and crashed at over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) during a race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1987. Depending upon the sponsor, era, or a specific year, the qualifying races have been referred to as "The Duels" or "The Twins".
Read more about List Of Daytona 500 Pole Position Winners: Procedure, Daytona 500 Pole Winners, Television Broadcasts
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, pole, position and/or winners:
“Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“My list of things I never pictured myself saying when I pictured myself as a parent has grown over the years.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“The discovery of the North Pole is one of those realities which could not be avoided. It is the wages which human perseverance pays itself when it thinks that something is taking too long. The world needed a discoverer of the North Pole, and in all areas of social activity, merit was less important here than opportunity.”
—Karl Kraus (1874–1936)
“On fields all drenched with blood he made his record in war, abstained from lawless violence when left on the plantation, and received his freedom in peace with moderation. But he holds in this Republic the position of an alien race among a people impatient of a rival. And in the eyes of some it seems that no valor redeems him, no social advancement nor individual development wipes off the ban which clings to him.”
—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)